Montreal restaurant: Everyone eats whether they can pay or not

Everyone deserves to eat, no questions asked – that’s the motto at Marché Restaurant Ferdous.

The restaurant on Ste. Catherine St. W offers free food to those who can't afford to pay for a meal.

“People sometimes come here, you have no idea by their look that they need the food and they're shy or they don't believe in such things. So we told the cook, ‘Don't ask any questions; do not judge them.’ If they ask, just give them the food, that's it, that's all,” said co-owner Yahya Hashemi.

The owners posted a sign months ago after noticing a number of homeless people in the area asking for spare change and in need of a warm meal.

“Especially when it's cold, they just want to eat,” said Hashemi.

Chicken shawarma, lentil soup and a variety of Middle Eastern delicacies are all on the table.

“It doesn't matter, because at night if you still have leftover food you end up throwing it out, so why not give to those in need? It's not a big deal,” said chef Abdelkader Bejaoui.

“It's just a sandwich, right, it's not life changing to most people, but to some people, it means they won't go to bed hungry and that to me spoke mountains about it,” said customer Sean Jalbert.

“We have to reflect our real image of Islam and Muslim people, immigrants who want to work hard and participate in this great country to contribute in its economy and social tissue,” said co-owner Ala Amiry. “It's part of religion, this kind of tradition. You have to give to the people if you want the blessing from God.”

They're hoping the good deed inspires other restaurants to do the same.

http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/montreal-restaurant-offers-free-food-to-anyone-who-needs-it-1.3226522

Lovely! I simply love hearing stuff like this, and I'd like to think I'd be able to do exactly the same if I had an establishment like that.

I think all sandwhich shops should leave their unsold sandwiches and cakes in a box in their doorways when they close. It feeds people and it just makes perfect sense to me.

Nice idea Eddie, but some greedy sods would take the lot and flog 'em on.

I like the sentiment, too.  But it's really government's job to take care of the less fortunate.  I'm sure it's unpopular to say this, but charity relieves the urgency on the government to do it's job.  

It's especially bad when the capitalist termites are in there gnawing away at the edifice of society...like pharmas and the healthcare industry.  Charity permits them to go about their sweet, destructive jobs with impunity.

there is a charity down here that basically does this, it goes around to a bunch of cafes and restaurants and collect the left overs at the end of the day which it distributes to homeless and needy.


Although Quill has a point this has a double benefit of reducing wastage too

Leftovers which customers leave on their plates to leftovers from the kitchen which are not eaten?????

Major wrote:Leftovers which customers leave on their plates to leftovers from the kitchen which are not eaten?????

I would expect that any licensed restaurant would follow the laws of hygiene.  Leftovers would mean unopened excess loaves of bread, cans of soup and vegetables, unopened sacks of potatoes, untouched perishables that will spoil if not consumed.  

Leftovers need not mean garbage in an institutional setting...although that may be what is thought of in the home refrigerator. .

I once had I job in a Hotel in Stratford, A large cauldron was kept bubbling on a stove in the kitchen. Into this cauldron was tipped all the scrapings from leftovers on customers plates.After being filtered,

It was printed on the Menu's as,-------Soup of the Day !!

“People sometimes come here, you have no idea by their look that they need the food and they're shy or they don't believe in such things. So we told the cook, ‘Don't ask any questions; do not judge them.’ If they ask, just give them the food, that's it, that's all,” said co-owner Yahya Hashemi.

nicko wrote:I once had I job in a Hotel in Stratford,   A large cauldron was kept bubbling on a stove in the kitchen.   Into this cauldron was tipped all the scrapings from leftovers on customers plates.After being filtered,

It was printed on the Menu's as,-------Soup of the Day  !!

So that's what it is about English cooking.

Fuck off. My cooking is supreme.
I do not, eat leftover food-soup.

Only the Soup Quill, only the Soup.

nicko wrote:Only the Soup Quill, only the Soup.

Well...patterns doe tend to repeat themselves. And given English cooking...

Major wrote:Leftovers which customers leave on their plates to leftovers from the kitchen which are not eaten?????

Kitchen leftovers.
most Cafes will prepare ingredients, premade sandwiches etc in the morning between the coffee rush and lunch rush. inevitably there is some that don't get sold

What's wrong with English cooking? better than some of that crap you see "arranged on a plate" on TV programs!

nicko wrote:What's wrong with English cooking?     better than some of that crap you see "arranged on a plate" on TV programs!

Bland mush...although, I can't speak for the French or Italians when it comes to nutrition.

Quill, have you ever had Cod and Chips with Mushy Peas,
if not you haven't lived !

nicko wrote:Quill, have you ever had Cod and Chips with Mushy Peas,
if not you haven't lived !

The English do good with fish and chips, tho the Scots do it better. But things like that and bangers, etc, are like fast food...not real meals. The English can murder roast beef or chicken, and they have no real recipes anyway; Not like the French.

I don't detest English cooking, but sometime try Coquilles Saint Jacques au vin blanc or Recette Gratin De Pates Au Poulet...

Quill I agree with you (that's about three times this year!).
English cooking, in the main, is shite. We do have some superb chefs of course, but all our best dishes now have a Mediterranean (my favourite) or a Caribbean or an Asian flavour to them. The traditional English fare has never, ever appealed to me. Even as a child I would put mustard or pepper on my food, then later the hot Caribbean sauces would go over my meat - didn't realise then, that it was the actual meat I disliked the flavour of.

Engish food is crap. I'm not even keen on fish and chips - too oily and I hate deep fried batter with a passion!

What you say is right on, eds. The best restaurant I found in London was Indian food. It was on Kensington High St.

eddie wrote:
Fuck off. My cooking is supreme.
I do not, eat leftover food-soup.

Of course you don't...

Everyone knows that the proper place for those leftovers is either meatloaf or a casserole..

nicko wrote:
Quill, have you ever had Cod and Chips with Mushy Peas,
if not you haven't lived !

Throw another kangaroo on the barbie...

On the subject of fish and chips and restaurants, I am an expert.
I used to go with my old man to most the chippies in Coventry who he supplied with Grimsby Dock fish and potatoes 4 days a week, then the Chinese restaurants came onto the scene and he supplied them with scrawny plucked only chickens dirt cheap, the freebies of chips, cod, plaice and haddock we used to get were lovely in nearly all of them, they were cooked in approx 2 foot cubes of white fat, dunno what it was called, not so today the chippies are by and large crap within 8 mile radius.
There are exceptions.
Barnaby's Fish and Chip Restaurant and takeaway down by the river.
The Finest Catch Restaurant and takeaway Henley In Arden.
The above two are licensed for booze
St. Johns takeaway chippie in Warwick is alone as the other takeaways are terrible,
To sit down and wait 20 minutes in the two chippie restaurants is well worthwhile, it will cost £16 for two plus anything else.
Sunday, Money, Tuesday at Finest Catch is half price meals for all.
I you ask for prawns here you will never have seen so many.

Restaurants in Stratford Upon Avon are the pits of tourists traps.

Several times we tried Vintners where most of the actors/actresses go, bleeding awful.

10 years ago here some massive expensively done out plush restaurants opened, they only lasted 3/4 years robbing everyone and serving pigswill.

If you want a superb Chinese takeaway Royal Leamington Spa Emperors is usually excellent, no chips though. lol

Coventry, Miller & Carter restaurant for a exceptional steak, be sure to STRESS how you wish it cooked.
First time I went here they stood up my chips in a bleeding cup, not since though.

Top London restaurants are just a rip off..

High tea with lousy champers in any of them is crap.

I tend to stick with that which I know where possible nowadays.

Almost every time someone recommends a restaurant it is below par.

Makes me hungry.

The pic of scallops has made my mouth water.....off to eat.

Do the English do beer batter or is that an Aussie thing?

beer battered Bream is my favorite type of fish and chips.
lighter and crunchier than normal batter

Ben Reilly wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:Do the English do beer batter or is that an Aussie thing?

beer battered Bream is my favorite type of fish and chips.  
lighter and crunchier than normal batter

I cook. Do you have a recipe?

Yes we do beer batter here.

Tommy Monk wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:

Look under his arm to where his belly should be... and you see a clear bit of dodgy photoshop jumper editing...

Original Quill wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:Do the English do beer batter or is that an Aussie thing?

beer battered Bream is my favorite type of fish and chips.  
lighter and crunchier than normal batter

I cook.  Do you have a recipe?

Here is a good one, for Plain beer batter just skip the spices.

http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/16323/paprika-and-beer-battered-fish.aspx

veya_victaous wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

I cook.  Do you have a recipe?

Here is a good one, for Plain beer batter just skip the spices.

http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/16323/paprika-and-beer-battered-fish.aspx

Ty veya.